Traveling lawn sprinkler



July 6, 1954 R. HILFINGER TRAVELING LAWN SPRINKLER 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 50, 1953 Fml.

y 1954 R. HILFINGER TRAVELING LAWN SPRINKLER 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed April 30, 1953 a wue/wfom. H/Y/I'nyer y 1954 R. HlLFlNGER TRAVELING LAWN SPRINKLER 4 SheetsSheet 3 Filed April 50, 1953 attowwq July 6, 1954 R. HILFINGER TRAVELING LAWN SPRINKLER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed April 30, 1953 Patented July 6, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE TRAVELING LAWN SPRINKLER Robert Hilfinger, Waterville, Ohio Application April 30, 1953, Serial No. 352,132

3 Claims. 4 (Cl. 299-50) being sprinkled and which will travelalong the hose in the path defined by the hose so that the area over which the sprinkler moves can be predetermined and it will complete a circuit with-v out further attention.

The object of this invention particularly is to provide for the relatively fool-proof and simple construction of such a sprinkler and a motive power mechanism which is simple to disengage when the device is to be employed as a hose carrying reel and yet effective for driving the structure to cause it to follow the hose and thus to travel as the sprinkler spreads water over the area being sprinkled.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a view in perspective of an automatic traveling sprinkler embodying the invention with a section of hose being shown as determining the path over which the sprinkler is to be traversed.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged front elevation with parts being shown in section and parts being broken away to indicate both the connections for the water and the construction of portions of the device. p Fig. 3 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary verti- Fig. is a fragmentary horizontal sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings a traveling sprinkler generally. indicated at I9-has a pair of large diameter wheels II which are rotatably mounted upon a main horizontal axle I2. The axle I2 is hollow and extends through the cross bar of a T-shaped casting I3, the ends of the casting I3 being packed around the axle I2. The casting I3 has a pipelike arm I4 which is shown in Fig. 2 as extending downwardly through an opening I5 in the periphthrough flat hub portions 24 of the cones 2|,

7 parallel to and radially spaced around the axle I2. The tie rods 22 also are securely fastened to a ratchet gear 25 which is mounted upon the axle I2 coaxially therewith by a sleeve 26.

The casting I 3 and its arm I4, the two cones 2 I, the tie rods 22 and ratchet gear 25 all rotate on the axle I2.

A gear box generally indicated at 2? is pressed on the axle I2 (Fig. 4) so that the gear box 21 and the axle I2 can remain stationary when the associated parts I3, I4, 2I, 22 and 25 rotate. The gear box 2'! is held in its stationary position by an arm 29 which is secured in a boss 3|] (Fig. 4) of the box 21 and extends downwardly and forwardly having a turned over end 3| provided with a hose guide eye 32. The hose I'I extends through the eye 32 and the eye 32 has a skid 33 which slides over the surface of the ground as the device moves along. The arm 29 is of such weight and length that it always remains in contact with the surface of the ground to maintain the gear box 21 in its upper position and to pre vent its turning over on the axis provided by the axle I2 during operation of the sprinkler.

The gear box 21 has an axially protruding boss 34 which extends inwardly toward the ratchet gear 25 and is bored to journal a short shaft 35 (Figs. 4 and 5). The shaft 35 mounts a worm gear 36 (Fig. 4) which is meshed with a worm 31 that is secured on a vertically extending hollow shaft 38. The shaft 38 is journalled in a flanged bushing 39 near the lower end of the gear box 21 and extends upwardly out through a bushing 49 aligned with the bushing 39. The shaft 38 ex- 7 tends upwardly beyond the rim of the adjacent one of the wheels I I and, at its upper end, is provided with a T fitting M the two arms of which which in turn rotates the worm gear 36 that is cry of a cylindrical drum I6 on which a length of hose I! may be wound in operation of the device. At the lower end of the pipe I4 a standard couplingl8 is provided for connecting the hose ii.

The casting I3 has a centrally located bore I9 larger in diameter than the diameter of the hollow axle I2 and the axle I2 has several drilled holes 20 which open into the bore I9.

A pair of formed cones 28 are supported by 4 fixed on the short shaft 35 which protrudes from the elongated boss 34 of the gear box 21. 7

At the inner end of the shaft 35 (i. e., that end extending toward and overlying the ratchet gear 25) there area pair of eccentric portions 45 and 45 (Figs. 3 and 5) which serve as cranks for a pair of weighted pawls 41 and 48 respectively. Each of the pawls 4'3 and 43 has a downwardly extending finger 49 or 59 which is engageable with the teeth in the ratchet gear 25 and a weighted head 5! which holds the pawls 4i and 48 downwardly in engagement with the ratchet gear 25.

Rotation of the shaft 35 rotates the eccentrics 45 and 46 as cranks and moves the pawls 41 and 48 accordingly first to slide their fingers 49 and 50 in aclockwise direction (Fig. 3) ratcheting over one tooth intheratchet gear 25 and then to engage the fingers 49 or 50 back of a tooth in the gear 25 and to pull the gear 25 in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 3). It will be observed in Fig. 3 that the pawl 48 has substantially completed its movement to the left pullingthe ratchet gear 25 counterclockwise and the pawl 47 is about to engage its fingers 49 backof the next adjacent tooth (in a clockwise direction) on thegear 25 to pull the gear 25 further in a counterclockwise .direction. Thus the pawls 41 and 28 engage their "fingers 49 and Eli respectively behind alternate ones of the teeth in the gear 25 in a hand over hand action, constantly pulling upon the gear 2Frto rotate the gear 25 and, through the tie rods 22, the cones 2|, drum IE and casting l3 and its arm l4, to wind the hose I! upon the drum 1%.

Winding the hose li upon the drum it; by swinging the arm M of the casting i3 around the axle l2 would either draw the hose ll onto the drum H3 or it will cause the travelling sprinkler 10 as a whole to be pulled along the hose ll, running along the surface of the ground or lawn upon its wheels I I. Since the travelling sprinkler is much lighter in weight and more free to move by reason of its large diameter wheels ll than is the substantial length of hose ll that lies on the ground andis secured to a spigot at its other end, rotation of the casting arm i l winds the hose I! upon the drum [6 and carries the sprinkler H] along the ground following the path laid out by the hose [1.

The'lowermost end of the shaft 58 which is journalled in the flanged bushing 38 has a fixed collar 52 (Fig. 4) which is spaced from the underside of a web 53 in-the casting'forming the gear 'box 21 in which the flanged bushing 35 is mounted. A sealing washer c is located between the upper surface of the collar 52 and the lower surface of the flange on the bushing 39 to act as an antifriction bearing between these two surfaces and to act as a seal for preventing water from passing upwardly between the bushing 39 and the outside of the hollow shaft38 into the gear box 2'? when the device is in operation.

The sealing washer E4 preferably'is fabricated from a plastic material having a low coefficient of friction with the material from which the 'fianged bushing 39 is formed and with the material from which the collar 52 is fabricated. In

practice, using a bushing 39 made from oil impregnated material such as Oilite, the washer 54' is most effective when molded from a polyamide resin, parti ularly nylon.

The lower end of the shaft 38 with its collar 53 and washer 54 extends into a pocket 55 in the casting forming the gear box 21 through which the hollow axle i2 also extends and the hollow axle I2 is drilled with small holes 56 located within the pocket 55 to allow water to flow from the axle 12 into the pocket 55 and then into the vertically extending hollow shaft 38. The pocket 55 is closed by a threaded plug 51.

After a device embodying the invention has been moved out to the end of its hose ll and it is ready to initiate a sprinkling cycle, the gardener turns on the water at the spigot to which the hose H is connected. Water flows through the hose l l and into the arm l 4 of the casting l3, through the coupling 18 and into the bore 19 of the casting Hi. It then flows through the holes 23 into the interior of the hollow axle [2, along the axle I2 and out the 151019555 (Fig. 6) into the pocket 55. The pressure of the water entering the pocket 55 thrusts upwardly on the collar 52 forcing it up against the washer 54 and the washer 54 in turn against the lower surface of the flanged bushing 32. Only a drop or two of water escapes from the pocket 55 around the shaft 38 or bushing 39 and into the gear box 21 before the pressure has thus thrust the sealing and antifriction washer into the position just described. Any such drops of water which do flow into the gear box 2"! are carried by gravity downwardly to a drain hole 5? where-they run out. As long as the water pressure is turned on, the collar 52 and washer 52 are thrust upwardly preventing leaks around the shaft 38 and the water flows up the shaft 3t to the T fitting and-then out the arms :22 to the nozzles 44 where it is sprayed over a circular area that progresses along-the path defined by the hose H as the. deviceoperates.

Having described the invention, I claim:

1. In reel type sprinkler having a hose reel, in combination, a pair of ground wheels of diameter larger than the diameter of said'hose reel and mounted co-axially 'therewith'for free rotation relative thereto, a frame, a sprinkler head, gearing driven thereby forrotating said reel relative to said frame, a forwardlyextending ground contacting arm on said frame, andan eye on the forward end of said arm through which the hose passes en route to'said-reel, whereby force in reaction to thehose reeling force which tends to overturn said sprinkler around the axis of said reel is overcome ,by'the weight of said hose engaged in said eye.

2. A reel type sprinkler comprising a-horizontal axle, a hose reel rotatably mounted on said axle, a pair of ground wheels of diameter larger than said hose reel, said ground wheels "being rotatably mounted on the ends of said axle,a gear housing non-rotatably mounted on said axle, a sprinkler head mounted'in said housing for rotation, gearing in said housing driven-by said sprinkler head for rotating said -ree1 for winding a hose thereon, a forwardlyextending arm on said frame and an eye on the forward end of said arm through which the hose passes en route to said reel, whereby force in reaction to the hose reeling force which 'tends'to-overturn said sprinkler around the axis of said reel is overcome by the weight of said hose engaged in said eye.

3. A sprinkler according to claim 2 in which i said axle is hollow and there is a 'hosecoupling near the center thereof for connecting the hose thereto and said axle is in communication'with said sprinkler head through said gear housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

